The Twilight 25: El Diablo Doesn't Wear Pantyhose
by AndraLee
Summary: There was nothing scientific about the fondness Jasper developed for the wonder-filled obsessives, who yearned to follow Venus - hung low in the west - beyond the horizon** from Stargazing** Twi 25 Round 3 Prompt 7
1. El Diablo Doesn't Wear Pantyhose

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt: #6

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing:Emmett

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**El Diablo Doesn't Wear Pantyhose**

Emmett complained that no one took his intellectual abilities seriously once too often and what began as a simple bet to attend college for one semester became a fight for the respect of his family. Now, he found himself living with the wife's 'I-told-you-so" facial expressions and the snickers his brothers only bothered to conceal when Carlisle and Esme were around.

Unfortunately, Esme joined the real vegetarians and bra burners down at the whole foods co-op almost every day and Carlisle was working through a pediatric surgical residency, so Emmett found himself alone with Jasper and Edward a lot more than usual. The resulting lack of parental supervision and Rose's preoccupation with the Auburn Eight Sportster she was restoring left Emmett without a buffer. Naturally, Jasper and Edward were merciless, yet played they part of innocents when Emmett complained to Carlisle of maltreatment.

"Emmett's anger is misplaced. Rosalie has refused to attend classes with him this semester and he can't express his feelings on the matter without risking her wrath." Edward's reasoning was sufficient to almost convince Carlisle that Emmett was being overly sensitive. It took Alice's prediction that Rosalie would soon throw an especially nasty temper tantrum to persuade Carlisle that Edward's assessment was correct.

"Alice, I thought you were going to stay out of this," Emmett whined.

"I don't know why I see Rosalie roaring around like she's going to burn someone, but I thought you _all_ should know."

"But Alice," Emmett could only focus on the effect of Alice's pronouncement on Carlisle.

"But nothing," she countered. "Rosalie could just as easily be mad at Edward and Jasper."

Emmett felt defeated. "You could have pointed that out."

"You shouldn't have made a bet with Jasper." Expecting Alice would openly take sides against her husband was foolish. "And you know Edward is devious."

Emmett resigned himself to the teasing; however when Edward and Jasper reprised their rendition of the Beverly Hillbillies theme song for the twenty-ninth time, Emmett suggested cultural awareness was not included in the curricula of the lauded educational programs they had pursued and told them as much. They responded by issuing another challenge, raising stakes that were already looking a bit steep, even to a mountain man.

Under the new terms of the bet, failure meant Emmett would be dressing up like Barbra Streisand and performing. Worse, he was going to have to tell Rose that he'd committed her to playing the part of his transvestite beau. The thought made Emmett cringe. Losing would cost Emmett his family's respect, but to win, Emmett would have to attend Berkley without his wife _and_ learn a foreign language.

"Hey, Jethro," Jasper teased. "English doesn't count."

Emmett exploded. Fortunately, Edward grabbed Emmett before he could dislodge Jasper's head.

Stifling the impulse to kill, Emmett shook Edward off and waited for him to share the information that going to school without Rosalie was the only part of this bet that Emmett was afraid he could not handle. Edward made a face, like he'd seen their parents making out, but kept his trap shut.

And Edward kept it that way for weeks, while Emmett proceeded to break in to the Berkley admissions office, and later, wrangle himself a dorm room he would never actually use, with only a smile. In fact, Edward didn't goad Emmett unless Jasper was there to provide the right amount of peer pressure or vampire voodoo, as it was.

Edward surprisingly offered to help by adding Emmett's name to early and special registration lists. Unfortunately, Emmett didn't discover that Edward had signed him up for honors classes until he was actually sitting in class. It was a treacherous blow.

However, Jasper's arrogance and Edward's deceit only increased Emmett's determination to win. The thought of Edward and Jasper running around San Francisco pretending to be a couple was delightful. Emmett was sure their demeanor would suggest they were in serious need of couple's counseling and that would draw the attention and sympathies of every meddlesome human they encountered.

"This is my brother, Edward, and his boyfriend, Jasper," Emmett practiced saying. "Just ignore their squabbling. They always act like that." Emmett planned on repeating the phrases often, so he made up his mind to make as many human friends as he could to increase his chances of spouting the greatly anticipated lines.

Emmett immediately put his plan into motion by contacting several of the student organizations that left flyers or meeting notices in Esme's food coop and in beer and soda joints nearby. By the end of the week, the union sympathizer from Tennessee had joined the Communist Party USA student group, PFLAG and End Apartheid Now, and he was on a first name basis with the aging beatniks working at the coffeehouse around the corner.

Emmett also began to cultivate the appearance of a middle-class disaffected college student and began wearing steel-toed boots and Dickies, the working man's uniform, with t-shirts from organizations like United Mine Workers of America and United Farm Workers. His favorite shirt was a Paul Robeson screen printed tee that bore the lyrics of a Joe Hill labor song.

Meanwhile, Edward and Jasper noted Emmett's efforts, but they remained confident that the foreign language would stump Emmett. He did his best to avoid taking language classes, frustrated with the drawl that curled unlovingly around the foreign words. However, Edward and Jasper didn't know that Juan, a morose half-starved illegal-immigrant from Ensenada, was glad to get the money Emmett was paying out to provide midnight language immersion experiences.

It was one of those immersion experiences that landed Emmett in trouble with Rosalie and almost eliminated any chance Emmett had of winning. The trouble began when Rosalie decided she needed to keep a closer eye on Emmett's midnight adventures.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Rosalie snapped.

"I'm going to meet Juan when he gets off work. Then me and him are gonna hitch a ride out to a place where some guys from his hometown meet."

"You've been gone every night for the last two weeks."

"Uh-huh and I've learned enough Mexican to order a beer and a woman."

Rosalie did not think Emmett was funny and she didn't like the descriptions of Emmett and Juan's adventures. Before Emmett could figure out what Rosalie was doing, she was dressed and perched in the doorway. There wasn't any way to get around her, short of digging down into the apartment below, so Emmett resigned himself to letting Rosalie drive.

"There's the taco stand where Juan works. Pull over here."

Juan was waiting. "El diablo," he called out as he leaped into the back of Rosalie's Mustang convertible. "Where'd you get the woman?"

"You let him call you the devil?" Rose punched Emmett - hard enough to make the car rock.

"He said diablo meant brother," Emmett looked over his shoulder and glared at the man wearing three crucifixes and reeking of garlic.

Juan shrugged. "To me, diablo is my brother."

"Well, this is Elvira," Emmett grinned as Rosalie pulled into traffic, cutting off a bus and a pick-up. "She bites."

"Mind if I smoke?" Juan asked Rosalie. She was clearly in charge.

"Mind jumping out here?" Rosalie replied. It was not a question nor an option.

Rosalie didn't slow down until she got to Fresno an hour later. Emmett couldn't be sure exactly how fast Rose was driving; the Mustang's odometer didn't show anything over a hundred and twenty-five. Naturally, the speed didn't bother Emmett, but Juan seemed a tad shaky as he crawled out of the back seat at the service station. Juan walked around the car twice like he was checking the tires before asking for a key to the men's room.

"Put the top up, baby, and go see what's taking your friend so long," Rosalie directed Emmett. "I'll let him sit in the front." Rosalie didn't like to wait.

Emmett tested the men's room door. He could hear Juan retching. "Hey amigo, you better get that all out before you get in Rose's car. She doesn't like body fluids. At least, not that kind."

Juan inched open the door. "Diablo, I thought we was friends."

"Yeah, and I thought you were calling me brother." Emmett was only a little disappointed that Juan had lied about the meaning of the word.

"No offense intended." By now, Juan had opened the door a paltry three inches and braced the door with his leg as if that might keep Emmett out.

"Only some taken," Emmett said, leaning into the door and pushing it fully open.

"You gonna let that bitch kill me?" Juan asked straight up.

"Now why would I do that? You and me are buds, but if you call my wife a bitch again you'll be walking home. Comprenda?" Besides, dozens of humans had gotten a good look at Emmett over the last few weeks. If Rosalie killed the man, there were bound to be questions that would result in Emmett's having to go into hiding and that would automatically mean losing the bet.

"That's your wife? Oh man, I'm sorry! I meant no disrespect." Juan's right eye was twitching uncontrollably. Emmett hoped the human wouldn't defecate.

Rose was in a better mood when Emmett and Juan returned to the car. "Drink this," she said handing Juan a Coca Cola as he slid into the front seat.

"Gracious," Juan whispered as Rose launched into her tirade.

Emmett had learned enough Spanish from attending a cockfight with Juan to know that Rosalie had an excellent command of colorful Spanish words and phrases. He could also tell that Juan was suitably impressed, which meant that Juan now truly believed that he had indeed sold his soul to the devil.

When Rosalie dropped Juan off at the taco stand, she spoke in English. "Remember, I can smell you a mile away, even if you're in the Bay, so don't make me come after you." Rosalie was shaking her finger in Juan's face. "Be here tomorrow. Until Emmett decides he doesn't want to go to school anymore, you're going to be his best friend. He's not your bodyguard or an enforcer, and you are going to make sure he learns Spanish. "

On the way home, Rosalie pulled over in front of an after-hours club. Emmett followed Rosalie inside. The bar was almost empty. One couple was making out at corner table, while another danced to a slow country song.

"You kids lost?" came the query in a baritone voice that didn't match the fuchsia lipstick its owner wore.

"I'm looking for my brother," Rosalie said, pulling a picture of Jasper out of her wallet. "His boyfriend isn't out and he's afraid Jasper's getting ready to dump him for someone else."

"Cute, but he hasn't been in here." The bartender seemed indifferent. "We ask for ID. He doesn't look old enough to get into most places around here."

"Oh, he's old enough alright."

"If I see him, I'll ..."

Rosalie flashed a ten dollar bill. "Tell him that his sister and her husband are worried about him."

"What was that about?" Emmett asked when Rosalie and Emmett were alone again.

"Just making sure no one would mistake me for a transvestite." Rosalie tapped her long nails on the steering wheel. "Now, shouldn't you be practicing your Spanish?"

"No need to be fluent in any but the language of love," Emmett quipped.

A/N: This story grew from a drabble that I wrote in the margins of a magazine. The prompt photo was dominated by bookshelves and books and they made me think about education. Emmett was the last Cullen I should have chosen to associate with books. He's more like Jethro, I thought at the time, and the drabble, from which this one-shot emerged, was born. This is the original bit of writing.

_Emmett complained that no one took his intellectual abilities seriously and what began as a simple bet to attend college became a fight for respect. Now, he found himself living with the wife's 'I-told-you-so" facial expressions and the annoying snickers his brothers only concealed if Carlisle and Esme were home. Unfortunately, they were gone a lot and Rose was preoccupied with an old car, which left Emmett without a buffer. When his brohers reprised their rendition of the Beverly Hillbillies theme for the twenty-ninth time, they bet he wouldn't take a foreign language. "Hey, Jethro," Jasper teased. "English doesn't count."_


	2. Jessica's Date

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 24

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Jessica Stanley

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Jessica's Date**

Jessica Stanley didn't pick up strangers and she never intended to invite the man back to the crappy apartment she was sharing with two faceless girls from Mississippi or Minnesota. (Jess forgot which.)

Nervousness bloomed and she began blathering inanely about the object of a hopeless high school crush. About how aloof and distant the boy had seemed until a new girl appeared.

"You remind me of him," Jessica said meekly, hoping this man would stay for breakfast.

"Is that so?" The honeyed voice held the hint of an accent. Italian?

Reluctantly, Jess revealed. "Sometimes his eyes were black, too."

* * *

A/N: I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. I'll make an effort to find them all and get them typed and posted by the deadline. There is a multi-chapter story brewing behind this. The outline is already finished. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	3. She Reminded Him of Renee

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 2

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Charlie and a woman

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**She Reminded Him of Rene****e**

She wasn't his in high school. Not even close. She was one of those almost-cute girls that sang in the chorus and auditioned for every high school play. He watched her walking home from school. She had an unforgettable ass. Of course, he'd been too intimidated by her certainty of the future to ask her for a date.

"I'm going to make it big on Broadway," she told people, opening her arms wide and bowing just like she planned to do in front of an audience.

But she only made it to a randy bar where she learned to work a pole and a barely-there costume. He'd looked her up four months after Renee left.

"Charlie Swan. Almost didn't know you with that mustache. How have you been? I heard your folks haven't been getting on so good. My folks are the same. Fighting all the time. Drinking. My brother joined the Marines. Can you imagine that?"

He was starting to imagine that he should have stayed home when she invited him over to her place.

"Look, I get off in an hour. Wait 'round the corner. You can walk me home. It's not the safest neighborhood, you know."

And just like that Charlie was in. When they got to her apartment, she turned on the lights. He turned them off and pushed her toward the shower. He'd never figure out how to scrub the lipstick, the cheap cologne and the mascara off her. That black stuff would run down her face, ghosting tears even when she smiled.

"I always thought you were the prettiest girl in high school," he lied, like he was apologizing in advance for the three weeks it would take him to call her. After that, Charlie made it a point to visit her once, and sometimes twice, a month for awhile.

Every first Monday, he'd leave his police cruiser in Port Angeles and catch a bus to Tacoma. He'd check into a motel near Fort Lewis and get a hair cut and a shave before he caught a cab. Usually, he would get out of the vehicle and walk for seven or eight long blocks, past the pawn shops and the strip joint where she worked, the drug dealers and the pool hall where her bookie hung out.

They'd meet in her vapid studio apartment above a liquor store. On the way to her room, he'd pick up a fifth of Jim Beam, chinese food and a couple of cigars. He liked to watch her smoke while they played Gin Rummy and listened to music. Sometimes that's all they did. He never stayed all night.

"What the matter, Charlie? Feeling guilty again? You can't cheat on a woman who left you. You ought give yourself a break. I could be good for you, Charlie. You wouldn't have to be all alone and I could help take care of that sweet little girl you're always telling me about. Who knows maybe..."

Charlie cut her off. "Maybe I should get you one of those videocassette recorders, so you can watch Friends."

She couldn't have watched it anyway; she didn't have a television, only an old Montgomery Ward Airline radio. The reception was bad, so it couldn't keep the street noise or the pounding in the walls away. Charlie settled for buying her a cheap Sanyo cassette player (He was still paying the bills his parents left behind and Bella needed braces.) The boom box didn't mask the world outside her room any better than the old radio did.

After his first vacation in California, he bought her a wall clock that was made in Korea, adding a chime to the cacophony. "Aw, Charlie! That's nice. I always wanted one of these and I've been thinking about fixing my apartment up. Maybe buy some new curtains. Replace the lamp shade. Maybe get a new sofa. Never enough left over after the rent gets paid to do everything I'd like."

He was sure she didn't pay the rent on her place; but she didn't ask him to pay her, so he kept his questions to himself. He never said much anyway.

One night he found sitting her all bruised and busted, eyes black and wary. "I was thirty my last birthday, Charlie. Did I tell you that? (Three years running, he thought.) You should have brought me flowers, like a regular boyfriend would. Everybody wants something here, you know? Maybe I should quit walking? This neighborhood isn't as safe as it used to be." She never imagined he was playing for keeps.

Charlie bought her a used economy car and paid an outstanding fine, so she could get her license back. Plus, he ponied up for a year's insurance. (He'd made chief by then, so money wasn't as tight.)

"Now, let's say I'm a betting man. (He really wasn't.) And I'm putting it all on you. You're a winner! You could drive right out of this neighborhood and never look back. Give up the booze and the bingo. Pack everything up. Maybe go home and start over." He didn't know how to ask her to move back to Forks; he imagined she'd just show up.

Even on the night he gave her the car, he'd hailed another cab and slept alone in the motel near the Army post. He only remembered he'd regretted not joining the military right out of high school just before sleep dragged him away from planning another fishing trip with Harry and Billy. He never told them about her, although he knew they had their suspicions.

She finally did drive to Forks. A few months later, she came to bail her father out of jail. "You know, I took a job at Bonnie's Pancake House. The one over by the fort. Tips are good, but I couldn't keep my own place. I'm sharing a house with three other gals who used to work at The Silver Slipper. Did you hear my mom went to Carolina and moved in with my brother? My mom used to come to see me in town. Sometimes she'd bring me a sweater."

Charlie stopped going to Tacoma, too. Later, he heard the cigarettes and the whiskey ate her liver and she died before she made forty. Sometimes he regretted not taking her home or at least buying her a TV.

A/N: I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. I'll make an effort to find them all and get them typed and posted by the deadline. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	4. First Dance

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 17

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Carlisle

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**First Dance**

Carlisle loved wedding receptions; he could play master of ceremonies between the songs his talented children shared and when the wedding party tired of waving flies away from day-old blood, they took to the dance floor. Everyone except Edward, who seemed to feel his singlehood acutely.

Carlisle was sympathetic, until the day Edward was found moonwalking in the kitchen of a rented social hall. It was an event that Carlisle forbade anyone to speak of or think about. So naturally, the image was the first thing that popped into the elder Cullen's head when Edward and Bella began to dance.

* * *

A/N: I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. I'll make an effort to find them all and get them typed and posted by the deadline. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	5. Pacifying Rosalie

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 1

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Emmett and Rosalie

Rating: M

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Pacifying Rosalie**

Emmett wanted a simple honeymoon in a place where he could wrestle bears and look for the echoes of his siblings in the faces of anyone named McCarty. Rosalie said she wanted to scour the countryside for cars to rebuild and antiques to carry home to Esme. Emmett should have known she was lying.

As soon as they rolled into Gatlinburg, Rosalie started whining that she wanted to go to a chapel and get married again.

"Come on. We'll pretend we're eloping. We're certainly not going to tell anyone we're celebrating our fiftieth anniversary."

Emmett wasn't keen on dragging his ass down to one of those overly cheery faux-alpine chapels, but if Rosalie wanted to go to Sweden and get married or tear apart a real chalet, he sure as hell wouldn't mind.

"Baby, it's Tennessee. Right now, the sky is black and you can barely hear the thunder for the rain, but the sun will be back out in twenty minutes and in an hour the ground will be scorched. When it gets dark, I'll take you to Dollywood."

Rosalie crossed her arms. "What is it with you and roller coasters?"

He couldn't get enough. So he held his tongue, knowing that anything likely to fall out would be trampled. Body-sking Mount Rainer didn't compare to the thrill of hurtling over rickety wooden tracks while tucked into a box that holds the rider in place with a little metal bar, he thought. As a human, riding in an empty coal car was as close as Emmett ever got to a roller coaster, aside from an old magazine with pictures of the Coney Island Cyclone.

"I want us to get matching t-shirts that say 'Emmett and Rose Forever' or 'Just Married'.

That was how Emmett and Rosalie ended up on a narrow road lined with souvenir shops and diners in Pigeon Forge. Rosalie insisted that they put on their shirts and visit a fortune teller. Emmett had a bad feeling, like he was sneaking off to swipe peaches from Old Man Scott's farm. The memory of his father's leather strap connecting with his bare bottom increased Emmtt's reluctance.

"They aren't like palm readers or those people who use a crystal ball. They aren't going to touch you." Fortune tellers reminded Emmett of carnies and he _had_ slipped up with one of those at a county fair once.

Anyway, Emmett wasn't sure why Rosalie, a person whose eternal life was assured and one who had the counsel of a real psychic, would want a human to tell her what was around the next bend in the road. Maybe Rose was looking for something Alice couldn't see or a tragedy Alice couldn't bring herself to tell Rosalie about.

Predictably, rocks on the moon had a better chance of forecasting his wife's future than did the charlatan in the garish shop that smelled of cloves and burnt leaves. Emmett listen disinterestedly as the woman turned over illustrated cards, saying the newlyweds would share a long and happy union. Then, Emmett spent the rest of the evening trying to shake the bad mood that seized his Rosie after the fortune teller predicted that Rosalie and Emmett would have four kids and ten grandchildren.

The next day, a good hunt and a day of rain considerably heightened Rosalie's mood, so they waded back into the shops and arcades to buy souvenirs. Emmett was standing in line to pay for a velvet Elvis wall hanging when Rosalie followed a family out the shop and down the street. By the time, Emmett had paid for his treasure, Rosalie was nowhere to be seen. He caught her scent and trailed her to an ice cream store. She was standing in a corner, staring at a toe-headed toddler who clutched a blanket and a plastic bottle. As Emmett led Rosalie to a booth, she smiled at the child and reached out to touch him. It began to squall.

"Don't forget to blink," Emmett cautioned, as the child's father, juggling dishes and cones, rushed back to the alarmed infant. Emmett motioned toward the door. "You don't even like ice cream or humans," he said.

Rosalie ignored him, continuing to watch the squabbler try to suck Max in his wolf suit off the blanket.

The disapproving eyes of the store clerks fell on Emmett and Rosalie. Emmett wasn't sure if the clerks were concerned that Rosalie and Emmett were taking seats that paying customers could have used or if they were unsettled by Rosalie's blatant staring and vampire pheromones.

Having Edward around would have been useful. On second thought, it wouldn't be much of a honeymoon with Edward grousing about.

Emmett stood. "Don't leave and quit staring." Normally, Rose would have taken a nip at him for telling her what to do. Rosalie's uncharacteristic failure to acknowledge his admonishment scared Emmett, who liked that there were certain things about his wife that even a rock could predict.

Emmett eased over to the counter and ordered ice cream sodas in paper to-go cups while continuing to gauge Rosalie's overly interested expression. She usually only wore that face when she was crouched and ready to strike at prey. The recognition set off an alarm and Emmett made up his mind that he was taking Rosalie out of the place before something terrible could happen. But before he could convince Rosalie to vacate the premises, the children's mother reappeared and Emmett discovered the cause of Rosalie's fascination: the woman was hugely pregnant.

The mother tapped one of her clones on the shoulder and it slid over in the booth, making room. When the woman lowered herself onto the bench and sighed, Rosalie sighed, too.

"Breathe," Emmett commanded. He didn't quite keep his voice as low as he should have.

The human incubator looked up toward Emmett and Rosalie. Seeing Rose's stare, the woman patted her belly and said, "my fifth."

Rosalie's response sucked the air out Emmett's nostrils.

"My first," she countered, mimicking the patting.

"So soon?" the woman inquired.

Puzzled, Rosalie hesitated and looked at Emmett. The airbrushed t-shirt he was wearing provided the clue to the human's assumption.

"Shotgun," Rosalie giggled and shrugged.

Emmett thought Rosalie's giggling was one of the most disquieting things he had ever heard. Rose simply did not giggle or engage in any of the cutesy mannerisms that enhanced Alice's countenance. As Rose's human façade blossomed, Emmett's began to crumble until he had to remind himself to act like a mortal.

"Aw well, congratulations!" The husband joined the conversation and directed his comment to Emmett.

"Thank you. You, too."

"I'm Rosalie and this Emmett," Rose chirped. Rose never voluntarily said that many words to humans and she never, ever chirped.

Her demeanor made the normally easy-going Emmett anxious; he nervously fiddled with the straw in his cup, pretending to sip its contents. He hoped the conversation would dissolve into a polite uncomfortable silence like the vampire-human ones that happened during high school group projects. Of course, the humans were attracted to them, but they couldn't find more than a few words to say when forced to interact with the vampires.

Unfortunately, these parents seemed as eager and enthusiastic to talk about their progeny as Rosalie was to listen. She learned the names and birth dates of each child and proceeded to make up a long tale about how she had met Emmett in the seventh grade and she always knew that he was "the one." She even invented a story about how they had eloped.

Emmett drummed his fingers softly on the table and looked at his beaming wife. He knew she regretted being unable to have children more than anything. Maybe pretending to be a mother was a distraction that would pacify Rosalie.

Rosalie's second ventured stroke of the wriggling captive ignited another protest. Watching the happiness vanish from Rosalie's face made Emmett's heart smart and he resolved to find a new way to make Rosalie happy.

"He's a mama's boy," the husband offered mercifully. "Does that when I try to get a hold of him, too."

The excuse did not placate Rosalie, who picked up the pouting she'd practiced the night before.

"Baby, let's play a new game. You'll be good at this one and you'll like it better than baseball. " Emmett cajoled as he pulled up in front of the Knoxville Toys R Us.

They had all the time in the world.

A/N: Okay, I'm normally not a review whore, but it might be nice to get some feedback. Does this work on any level for anyone? Why/why not? I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. I'll make an effort to find them all and get them typed and posted by the deadline, unless I'm wasting everyone's time.

Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	6. Bella was Never Here

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 9

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Charlie/Bella

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Bella was Never Here**

Charlie got tired of Bella's excuses for not coming home. First, it was a nasty bout with pneumonia that kept her in Juneau for Thanksgiving. Then, there was an invitation to spend Christmas in South America where Dr. Cullen was working with a relief agency.

When Bella returned the airline ticket Charlie sent for spring break and started talking of spending the summer in Europe, Charlie decided he was going to Alaska. He had found her apartment empty and determined she had never set foot on campus, taking classes online.

Charlie went home and waited for Bella to call again.

* * *

A/N: I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. I'll make an effort to find them all and get them typed and posted by the deadline. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	7. Another Old Warrior

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 10

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Jasper

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Another Old Warrior**

Instead of pretending to be a high school student, Jasper pedaled down to the park in town, where the old men waiting time talked war.

"Give me a rifle and put me someplace where I can cover the street. Just cause I can't walk doesn't mean I can't shoot some bastard planting bombs," one vet said.

If they asked what brought Jasper to the park, he told them he was sick and that his mom was home-schooling. They smelled faintly human, but bloodless, like curdled milk and mildew. Vaguely tempting.

He wanted to tell them they had survived another battle.

* * *

A/N: Time permitting, I'll finish the O/S that emerged from this drabble before this challenge round ends. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/ Thanks!


	8. Have You Seen This Girl

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 18

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Charlie/Bella

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

The night Bella Swan vanished, they found her biology notes in a puddle behind the gym. The bloodied clothes and a ring showed up later, deep in the Olympics, where sunlight never graced the earth.

Dissatisfied with the explanation that a mountain lion had attacked Bella, Charlie went to the school every day for months. He observed staff and students arriving in cars and buses, on skateboards and bikes. He peered in windows and followed the trouble makers and chased empty rumors, certain that someone inside Forks High School knew what happened.

But the Cullens had been gone for weeks.

* * *

A/N: Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	9. I Told You So

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 11

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Esme & Carlisle

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**I Told You So**

Carlisle guided the Chrysler into a picnic area. He'd spent the last two hours waiting for the predicted cold front to move in with heavy clouds and rain. Carlisle inhaled, noting that the stale scent of a human was at least several days old.

"I don't think this particular site is very popular," Carlisle said before he began studying the flight pattern of the bees living in a nearby tree.

Esme wasn't the kind of woman who might have said, "I told you so." But the next time she suggested traveling at night, Carlisle vowed he would heed her advice.

A/N: I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. I'll make an effort to find them all and get them typed and posted by the deadline. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	10. The Way to a Man's Heart

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 3

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Esme & Carlisle

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**The Way to a Man's Heart**

The handsome young doctor with a cheerful disposition and a ready smile was a favorite among the nurses. When he showed up, freshly minted in a residency program back east, most of the unmarried nurses flirted quietly, ignoring his simple wedding band. The married nurses were more discrete.

The physician's shy, embarrassed refusal of gifts and special assistance only increased the attempts to garner his attention. He reminded them he had a wife and shared the homemade muffins she made.

One night, his wife came to the hospital wearing the tiniest skirt and fishnet stockings.

Her idea of flirting was not subtle.

A/N: I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. I'll make an effort to find them all and get them typed and posted by the deadline. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	11. Nessie's Rebellion

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 4

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Edward & Nessie

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Nessie's Rebellion**

Edward saw Jake's rejection coming, yet he was silent on the dilemma brewing inside Renesmee's mind. An occasional reminder that Nessie was certain she wanted to choose her own path was as close to a warning as Edward ever got. Meanwhile, everyone took it for granted that Nessie would slip into each new adventure as easily as she did the clothes Alice laid out for her. In the end, it wasn't Jake whom Nessie was rejecting, but the notion that she was plaster to be molded in the shape of her family's wishes.

Edward felt sorry for Jacob Black.

A/N: I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. I'll make an effort to find them all and get them typed and posted by the deadline. Yep, this drabble grew, but don't look for it right away. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	12. No Return Address

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 5

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Rosalie

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

After the newspaper reported that Rosalie's father had been questioned for the murder of Royce King, Rosalie sent a letter home apologizing for her absence. Rosalie claimed that she had discovered Royce was not the man she had believed him to be and she couldn't marry someone so unkind and thoughtless, someone so destructive.

Rosalie assured her mother that she was doing fine; she sent money and promised to write again soon. She continued to send cash, a wedding announcement and grainy photographs of places she had been, but Rosalie never sent a return address nor said she missed them.

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone who read the drabbles I for wrote for Rounds 1 and 2 of the Twilight Twenty Five Challenge.


	13. Down in the Hollow

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 21

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Emmett

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Down in the Hollow**

When the power company flooded the valley where Emmett McCarty was raised, his displaced family gave up on their attempts to scratch sustenance from the red clay and moved closer to a town booming from the brokerage of ore and minerals.

Emmett visited the site of his childhood home years later, wondering if the cold mountain water still concealed his grannie's cabin and his father's fences. He found the forestry people had established a campground on the banks of the lake. Before he left, Emmett hung a rope swing, like the one his uncle fashioned, in a tall sycamore tree.

A/N: I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. I'll make an effort to find them all and get them typed and posted by the deadline. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	14. Rumors about Rosalie

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 15

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Rosalie & Royce King

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Rumors About Rosalie**

Rosalie Hale's disappearance was widely reported, though journalists and lawmen quickly lost interest. At society affairs and events, however, speculation about Rosalie's whereabouts was the subject of salacious gossip for months. Some said Rosalie followed a musician; others asserted another pregnant social climber had been sent off to distant family.

After the gruesome deaths of several wealthy sons of Rochester, one particularly far-fetched theory was started by a man who worked for the Pinkerton's before he too was murdered. He had claimed to have been interviewed for a position protecting Royce King from the missing bride-to-be, whom Royce had drowned.

* * *

A/N: I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. I'll make an effort to find them all and get them typed and posted by the deadline.

The rules for this challenge say that drabbles should be unrelated, but when you are caught up, as I am, in writing or rewriting a fic, it is very difficult to banish all thoughts of that story. As a result, the Rosalie story I've been crafting for months has ended up with several additional chapters. The one-shot that grew from this drabble is one of them. (An out take from that story can be read in MsKathy compilation, TwiFans for Haiti. It appears nowhere else.)

Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	15. Ringing

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 20

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Rosalie

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Ringing**

Rosalie Hale couldn't get past the need for the reassurnce of rings and ceremonies surrounded by family to believe that Emmett truly loved and cherished her. _Till death do we part._ Although she eventually replaced that line with 'even unto death' and expanded her notion about the importance of a memorable honeymoon.

The couple took long trips, but no matter how elaborate or exotic these honeymoons were, Rosalie said the bon voyage, the phone calls home and the welcome back were the best parts. She reported she missed her family intensely.

They hoped she would learn to appreciate them more.

A/N: Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	16. Would You Like Popcorn with That?

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 22

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing:Nessie Cullen

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Would You Like Popcorn with That?**

The trailers were playing when the vampire severed the human's spinal cord, robbing the horrified man of movement and speech. The predator suckled as the movie began.

The fountain that cascaded past parched lips blinded the vampire to the intruder that crept up to lap at his meal. The competitor grabbed the vampire's hand suddenly, wrapping him in her rapture and the beat of her mischievous heart.

The vampire growled and looked at the thief.

She leaned forward to lick the scarlet droplets from his lips. "My name is Nessie." she said, chasing the blood with a handful of popcorn.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, rebellious Nessie is stuck in my head.


	17. Guilt and Insecurity

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 25

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing:Bella & Nessie

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Guilt & Insecurity**

Bella Cullen knew isolation, created by necessity, cultivated the old-too-soon expression that Renesmee often wore; the guilt that knowledge honed weighed heavy and long. Seeing Nessie's tired eyes crinkle, when she feigned enthusiasm for yet another tour of a secret fortress or no-holds-barred shopping, resurrected the human insecurities Bella believed she had laid aside when she became a vampire.

Stealing an unencumbered moment alone, Bella dragged her daughter from the lesson her father carefully planned to a roof top, where she promised to be more a parent and less a friend as they danced under broken clouds in the sunlight.

A/N: Stephenie Meyer left this great toy in the sandbox. I hope she doesn't mind if I play with it for a little while.


	18. Nightshift

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 16

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Edward

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Nightshift**

Getting jobs in the call center, taking reservations, complaints and inquiries, was Alice's idea. Most of the other employees were college students, who attended classes during the day and had little time for developing an overt interest in the new workers.

For several months, Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Edward sat in their cubicles, playing Battleship and answering phones. The company had a strict policy limiting personal breaks, so the Cullens, who never sat foot in a company lavatory, initially received superior performance reviews.

The supervisor's favorable attitude toward the Cullens vanished when Emmett and Alice were caught accessing adult websites.

A/N: Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	19. 1973

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 8

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Esme & the Cullens

Rating: M

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**1973**

The year was 1973. The Supreme Court overturned a ban on abortion, while sixteen survivors of a plane crash in the Andes rescued themselves. The troops came home and Washington fell apart. Indian warriors protested their captivity at Wounded Knee.

Carlisle was doing research and Edward was in medical school again. Alice held parties no one outside the family attended. Emmett and Rosalie were haunting Rochester for a peek of little Henry and long-lost nieces and nephews. Jasper was preoccupied with Comet Kohoutek. Esme was simply bored.

For the hitchhikers she picked up outside of Watkins Glen, it would be 1973 forever.

* * *

A/N: I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. This stream of conscious bit of writing inspired the one-shot I hope to edit and have beta'd real soon.

Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/

Banners that incorporate the visual prompts can be seen on photobucket at AndraLee_graphics


	20. A Predictable Outcome

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 13

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Jacob & Renesmee

Rating: M

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**A Predictable Outcome**

Renesmee longed for normalcy, a search without a predictable outcome, a hot run down glacier covered mountain faces, or a swim on a moonless night.

When she began sneaking away, Jacob would trail behind, content to wait, like always. She knew he was there, biding his time, trying not to compare the days he spent pining over Bella to the hours he sat at Renesmee's feet. One day, Jacob tracked her to a cabin on a lake.

She was waiting. "I need you to share my secret," she said, pushing him toward the bed.

"I always will," he replied.

* * *

A/N: Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	21. Stargazing

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 7

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Jasper & the Cullens

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Stargazing**

The Cullens developed a keen interest in astronomy during the fifties, buying telescopes and star charts and planning trips to mountain pinnacles. They even joined several astronomy clubs to stargaze on dark, moonless nights. Secluded and remote locations provided cover and concealment for the occasional misstep, so they tried to think of those nights as experiments in helping Jasper learn to interact with humans.

But, there was nothing scientific about the fondness Jasper developed for the wonder-filled obsessives, who yearned to follow Venus - hung low in the west - beyond the horizon.

"Who are you?" they asked.

"Charon," he sometimes answered.

* * *

A/N: I wrote my responses to the visual prompts out in longhand. They're scrawled across maps, on napkins, in the margins of the pages of three magazines and in assorted notebooks. I've found them all but I'm not overly motivated to get the drabbles typed and posted by the deadline. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	22. Belonging

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 19

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Esme

Rating: M

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Belonging**

Esme converted the rolling farm with the old Victorian and dilapidated outbuildings into a garden center. She refurbished the exquisite greenhouse and lined the pond. At night, Esme like to swim among the water lilies she planted. Esme planned to install a pottery kiln in the stables and sell the aging mare that had come with the house. But, like the upright piano with the peeling blue paint, the horse seemed to belong to the farm as much as the June bugs and fireflies did, so Esme fenced the woodland adjoining the pasture and let her hide among the trees.

* * *

A/N: I will finish posting the 100 word drabbles, but will only post the lengthier one-shots for the drabbles that get reviews. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/


	23. Church Picnic

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 12

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: the Cullens

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Church Picnic**

Every spring, Reverend Weber's church hosted a picnic out by the lake. Even the Cullens planned to go. Alice didn't see anything that indicated trouble, but Alice's visions were dependent on the decisions people made, so the meteorologist on the Weather Channel was more reliable when it came to forecasting rain.

The sky bloomed gray the morning of the picnic, but a storm brewing in the Pacific pulled the clouds out to sea about noon, pouring sunlight on the revelers. The Cullens left their picnic basket, and the tea pot Emmett insisted they bring, behind when they ran for cover.

* * *

A/N: Twenty-three down. Two to go. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/ Thanks for reading!

Banners that incorporate the visual prompts can be seen on Photobucket at AndraLee_graphics


	24. Involuntary Response

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 23

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing:Jasper

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Involuntary Response**

Jasper watched Alice spar in the rain with Rosalie. His wife's limber body twisted and dodged the droplets as easily as it allowed her to distance herself from Rosalie's jabs and kicks. Absently, he stroked the lighter he had found and considered what he'd do if Alice was lost in the upcoming battle. Even the thought of going to Voltera, as Edward had, ignited an involuntary fight-or-flight response. He'd never be able to request execution. No, Jasper would be fated to mourn for eternity, taking Edward's place as the odd-man among couples, if in fact, any of the Cullens survived.

* * *

A/N: Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/ Hyphenates, regardless of the number of words they contain, are counted as one.


	25. Oracle

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt #: 14

Pen name: AndraLee

Pairing: Bella

Rating: T

Photos for prompts can be found here:

community[dot]livejournal[dot]com/thetwilight25/13912[dot]html

**Oracle**

Bella stared at the ceiling, listening to her mother's whispered endearments and vows dissolve into sobs. Renee missed her new husband.

Bella rolled over and looked at the twist-off cap, barely illuminated by the light in the hall. Reaching for it, she felt the rough edges and closed her eyes. _Climb a tree, _her aluminum oracle divined. It was as good an omen as any, she supposed. Better than a fortune cookie.

Since there were no trees for Bella to climb in Phoenix, there was only one place to go: Forks, where her father might catch her when she fell.

* * *

A/N: So this is the last of the drabbles I wrote in response to the Twi 25 Round 3 prompts. All the drabbles were followed by 1000+ word one-shots. I've only posted three of the one-shots, although I might get around to posting the others someday. I will, however, post the banners/illustrations for my Twi25 responses on Photobucket at AndraLee_graphics. Copyright infringement not intended. Word count verified by http:/www(dot)wordcounttool(dot)com/ Hyphenates are counted a single word.


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